Recent changes to after-hours medical care for stray animals in San José has sparked concern and criticism among local animal advocates.
The San José Animal Care Center is not covering costs for sick or injured found animals brought to Med-Vet after-hours, according to the City of San José’s website, meaning emergency medical service for animals requires out-of-pocket payment.
Lyne Lamoureux, a shelter volunteer for over nine years, shared an email with the Spartan Daily that was sent to San José Mayor Matt Mahan and city council members on Oct. 6 critiquing their leadership.
MadVet staff reportedly told an animal advocate that MedVet’s contract with the city ended as of Sept. 26 and on Oct. 1, the San José Animal Care Center quietly updated their website to reflect the changes, according to the email.
“For years, concerned San José residents have been able to bring injured or sick animals to MedVet for emergency care after regular shelter hours. Suddenly, last week, that option disappeared,” Lamoureux wrote in the email.
“The fact that MedVet staff were the ones informing residents, not SJACS, shows how poorly this decision was handled … As a taxpayer, I want to know: how is my money being used if essential services keep disappearing?” Lamoureux wrote.
The Animal Care Services budget currently stands at $17.5 million, according to the City of San José’s website.
From the period of 2019-2020 to 2024-2025, the budget nearly doubled and also saw an increase in staff from 76 to 94 positions, according to the city’s November 2024 report.
San José Animal Care Services has not offered low-cost spay/neuter services in over three years and seldom offers Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) services, leading to unchecked reproduction in San José’s streets, according to Lamoureux’s email.
Animal advocates have made posts on Reddit and Facebook detailing their recent experiences with MedVet as well as their growing concern about the state of animal care in San José.
Matt Loesch, San José’s director of public works, said there has been no explicit changes in the city’s contract with MedVet and the update to the website was a means of clarification.
“Our contract is just the same as it was before. The MedVet contract is for our emergency or our owned animals, they’re not for publicly owned or even free roaming animals,” Loesch said.
If you encounter an animal emergency outside of the business hours of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., it is recommended to call the San José Police Non-Emergency line 408-277-8900 or 911 or take the animal to MedVet Santa Teresa, MedVet Dell, SAGE or Veterinary Emergency Group (VEG), according to a City of San José’s website.
“It had gotten to a place where people had gotten too comfortable just bringing any animal to MedVet. And so we’ve gotten to the place where we try to provide clarification that if you take an animal to MedVet without talking to us first, those charges might be your responsibility and not San José’s,” Loesch said.
The city of San José is not responsible for any charges incurred if you choose to take the animal to an emergency clinic, according to the same website.
Courtney Ferro, a former employee at the San José Animal Care Center, said poor leadership and financial negligence has deteriorated the integrity of the shelter.
“It started back in 2024, thousands and thousands of dollars that were paid months late and in some cases, not paid at all for care,” Ferro said.
“My experience working at the shelter (San José Animal Care Center) was pretty poor. It’s a new management team, that’s another thing. Pre-2021 it was a totally different management team and still, the shelter had problems, but it’s gotten dramatically worse in the last four years,” Ferro said.
Ferro also said one of the managers at the shelter, who was previously an animal control officer, once left a group of dogs in an animal control truck for a prolonged period of time, resulting in the death of three of the dogs.
The Neighborhood Services & Education (NSE) Committee is scheduled to hold a public meeting on December 11th at 1:30 p.m. where topics regarding the shelter will be discussed, according to a document updated on Oct. 10 published by the City of San José.
In an Oct. 25 post on Nextdoor about a severely injured dog, community members commented about the changes to MedVet’s after-hours care.
Linda Ramirez, who brought the dog to MedVet, said she was aware of the changes but was able to receive help from a nurse in a one-off situation.
“The nurse then came out to my vehicle to check on the doggie and it was as if she took off her nurse hat. She looked at me, as I am visibly distressed and said, ‘The changes are so stupid. You did the right thing,’ ” Ramirez said.
